biotechhttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/taxonomy/term/8518/all
enFresh Blood: What Theranos Leaves In Its Wakehttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2018-07-02/fresh-blood-what-theranos-leaves-its-wake
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Glen Martin</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The big question is why the scam wasn’t detected earlier. Theranos promised the moon—or at least a full battery of blood tests from a minim of blood—but it never came close to delivering. And yet, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/who-invested-in-theranos-betsy-devos-walmart-heirs-2018-5">investors</a> and the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/blood-simpler">press</a> alike gave wunderkind founder Elizabeth Holmes pass after pass, perhaps mesmerized by her inspiring backstory and her eerie semblance to a female reincarnation of Steve Jobs, an illusion she cultivated right down to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-elizabeth-holmes-came-up-with-her-iconic-jobsian-look-2018-5">wearing</a> black turtlenecks identical to those favored by the late Apple&nbsp;CEO.</p>
<p>Now that Theranos has collapsed and Holmes faces criminal fraud <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/6/15/17469332/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-criminal-charges-fraud">charges</a>, there are plenty of people claiming they knew the company was bogus all along. But <a href="http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/faculty/luke_lee">Luke Lee</a>, a Berkeley professor of bioengineering, electrical engineering, and computer sciences and the co-director of the university’s Sensor and Actuator Center, isn’t among them. Lee says it became clear to him that something was amiss at Theranos “after they kept promising and promising, and we never saw any publications, any clear proof they had what they said they had. But in the beginning, I didn’t question it. I’d been doing the same sort of work for 20 years, and I thought maybe they had it all figured out. I thought I’d probably have to give up my own research and go into something&nbsp;else.”</p>
<p class="pullquote left">Visions of riches, says professor of bioengineering Luke Lee, have vitiated the scientific process, ultimately making it difficult for researchers who have done their due diligence to raise&nbsp;money.</p>
<p>Indeed, Lee has perfected or contributed to two technologies that essentially fulfill the aborted promise of Theranos. The first, a “photonic” ultra-fast polymerase chain reaction (PCR) <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/lsa201553">device</a>, uses light to rapidly amplify DNA. PCR is critical to a wide array of applications, from forensics to agriculture—and most particularly medicine, including blood testing for infectious diseases, tumors, and genetic abnormalities. Lee’s system essentially speeds up DNA amplification from days or hours to&nbsp;minutes.</p>
<p>Lee’s PCR system is preterit to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21152509">SIMBAS</a>, a “lab on a biochip” developed by a team of researchers from Cal, Dublin City University in Ireland, and Chile’s Universidad de Valparaiso. The Berkeley researchers who contributed to SIMBAS worked out of Lee’s lab, and Lee was a co-author of the peer-reviewed paper that described the process. SIMBAS chips can accommodate up to 200 chambers, each charged with PCR-generated DNA “biomarkers” that can identify specific diseases or disorders. In sum, SIMBAS can be configured for a large number of simultaneous blood tests, quickly yielding accurate results. So why are we talking about Theranos’s failure at this juncture rather than the smashing success of photonic PCR and SIMBAS? There’s a cautionary tale there, observes Lee—and it implicates the entire high tech culture, not just Elizabeth&nbsp;Holmes.</p>
<p>“Holmes was very smart,” says Lee. “She saw the big picture at a time when people were publishing different aspects of the whole, and she figured it all out well enough to line up investors and hire a lot of engineers. She thought if she threw enough money at it, the technology, including mass production, would catch up with her. But it&nbsp;didn’t.”</p>
<p><img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/image/simbas410_0.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 201px; float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 40px" title="SIMBAS chip simultaneously processing five whole-blood samples by separating the plasma from the blood cells and detecting the presence of biotin / Ivan Dimov, Berkeley News" /></p>
<p>The Theranos gambit is not an anomaly for Silicon Valley and similar tech centers, says Lee. In fact, Holmes’s approach has become the default path for high tech. Researchers, Lee says, often try to market a device or system before it is ready for prime time. Lee attributes at least a portion of the problem to the impetuosity of youth—and the remainder to simple&nbsp;greed.</p>
<p>“We’re seeing this time and again.” He says. “Younger researchers tend to jump the gun. They have to understand that it’s not just a matter of developing a process. You can’t scamp clinical trials. You have to establish reliability, the results have to be demonstrated as replicable, and you must prove that your process can be mass produced at acceptable price&nbsp;points.”</p>
<p>Visions of riches, Lee says, have vitiated the scientific process, ultimately making it difficult for researchers who have done their due diligence to raise&nbsp;money.</p>
<p>“People are now just chasing money instead of developing and enjoying their talents,” Lee says. “We need to change the old academic directive, ‘Publish or perish,’ to ‘Publish and cherish.’ If you pursue your talents, the money will eventually come. But the goal for too many people is to become billionaires by the time they’re 30. That leads to things like Theranos. For me, people like Edison, and especially the Wright Brothers, are the standard. The Wright Brothers failed so many times, but after many, many trials, they succeeded. They didn’t try to take any shortcuts. They’re my inspiration, especially because I’ve had a lot of challenges of my own after 20 years in this field. Their experiences have convinced me to stick with&nbsp;it.”</p>
<p class="pullquote left">“That’s the real tragedy—this one incident is drying up funding for anything associated with blood tests,” says Lee. “It’s affecting a lot of important <br>research.”</br></p>
<p>The irony, says Lee, is that technologies like photonic PCR and SIMBAS have brought Theranos’s failed promise—rapid, accurate tests from miniscule quantities of blood—tantalizingly close to realization. Once mass production techniques are perfected and verified (something that’s not a trivial obstacle, acknowledges Lee), functional Theranos-like devices might well be deployed. But the Holmes debacle has shaken the entire biotech industry, spooking the venture capitalists who supply the funds that ultimately turn scientific breakthroughs into breakthrough products. Lee is now seeking funding to develop mass production systems for photonic PCR, and he’s finding it a tough go. The same is true, he says, for the team that developed the SIMBAS&nbsp;chip.</p>
<p>“[For the SIMBAS paper] only one biomarker was used because each one is so expensive,” Lee says. “To produce a chip that has biomarkers for all 200 chambers, and then take that through clinical trials to mass production, is going to be require a lot of money. I’m going back to Boston soon to see if I can get funding for clinical trials and mass production research for photonic PCR. &nbsp;I recently returned from Singapore, where I thought I had funding lined up. But it fell through, and Theranos was part of the reason. That’s the real tragedy—this one incident is drying up funding for anything associated with blood tests, or PCR, or biochips—it’s affecting a lot of important&nbsp;research.”</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Filed under: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/innovation">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/science-health">Science + Health</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Related topics: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal">Cal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/university-california">University of California</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/california-magazine">California magazine</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-alumni">Berkeley Alumni</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley">UC Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley">Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/theranos">Theranos</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/steve-jobs">Steve Jobs</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/apple">Apple</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/high-tech">high tech</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/technology">technology</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/luke-lee">Luke Lee</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-professor">Berkeley professor</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/blood-test">blood test</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/pcr">PCR</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/polymerase-chain-reaction">polymerase chain reaction</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/dna-research">DNA research</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/health">health</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/simbas">SIMBAS</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/elizabeth-holmes">Elizabeth Holmes</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biotech">biotech</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biochip">biochip</a></div></div></div>Mon, 02 Jul 2018 20:48:50 +0000Leah.Worthington8171 at https://alumni.berkeley.eduWATCH: Enable Techhttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2018-03-05/watch-enable-tech
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Marica Petrey</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-video-embed field-type-video-embed-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Filed under: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/innovation">Innovation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Related topics: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/university-california">University of California</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/california-magazine">California magazine</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal">Cal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley">UC Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/jacobs-institute-design-innovation">Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/enable-tech">Enable Tech</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/disabilities">disabilities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/independent-living">independent living</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/living-limitations">living with limitations</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/prosthetics">prosthetics</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/engineering-and-design">engineering and design</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley-engineering">UC Berkeley engineering</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biotech">biotech</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/startup">startup</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/nonprofit">nonprofit</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/campus-disability-services">campus disability services</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/prototype">prototype</a></div></div></div>Mon, 05 Mar 2018 23:14:19 +0000Sara.Beladi7964 at https://alumni.berkeley.eduStranded? Meet the Band of Bay Area Volunteers Here to Save Youhttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2017-05-23/stranded-meet-band-bay-area-volunteers-here-save-you
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Martin Snapp</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>How&#8217;s this<b> </b>for a job description? No pay (in fact, you&#8217;ll have to buy your own equipment, and it doesn&#8217;t come cheap), ability to push through mental and physical exhaustion, crazy hours, and willingness to complete two years of rigorous training before actually getting started. Oh, and assignments sometimes end in&nbsp;heartbreak.</p>
<p>Doesn&#8217;t sound like much fun, does it? Yet the people who do it say they wouldn&#8217;t trade the experience for&nbsp;anything.</p>
<p>They&#8217;re the members of the all-volunteer <a href="https://www.alamedacountysheriff.org/cws_sar.php" target="_blank">Alameda County Sheriff&#8217;s Office Search and Rescue Unit</a>. UC Berkeley graduates Angela Chew Hale—an executive assistant for a commercial business park developer—Keith Young—who does research and development for a biotech company—and Randall Chinn— a software developer at Oracle—are among them.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a small child who has wandered away from home, or a plane crash survivor on a lonely mountaintop, or a hiker who has lost your way in the wilderness, they&#8217;re your best&nbsp;friends.</p>
<p>All of them are cross-trained in various skills to increase redundancy, but each has his or her own specialty, too. Hale is a dog handler, working with her German shepherd, Kona, to trace the person&#8217;s scent and narrow the search&nbsp;area.</p>
<p>Young is a flanker or “ground pounder.” Once Kona has indicated the most likely place to search, he and other flankers pound the ground until the person is&nbsp;found.</p>
<p>Hale and Kona are usually first on the scene because they set the stage for all that&nbsp;follows.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/Kona.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 350px; float: left; margin: 20px 10px;" title="Angela Chew Hale at a Special Olympics fundraiser with a fellow S&amp;R volunteer and 5-year-old Maiya Menges. / Courtesy of Angela Hale" /></p>
<p>“When we arrive we are given a map, and whoever the agency is, a police department or whatever, will brief us with a description of the missing person,” Hale says. “We ask questions like are they afraid of dogs, will they answer to their name being called, and what is their favorite candy or cigarettes. The type of shoes they&#8217;re wearing is very important because we&#8217;re also tracking the type of sole. Also, in some Alzheimer&#8217;s cases they&#8217;re going backwards in their minds. They might think they&#8217;re going to work 30 years ago, or to where they used to hang out, so we need that information,&nbsp;too.”</p>
<p>Then they go to&nbsp;work.</p>
<p>“The first thing I do is check the wind, because you want to work into the wind …so the scent is coming toward the dog. Someone could be hiding, and if the wind isn&#8217;t coming right at him he won&#8217;t pick that&nbsp;up.”</p>
<p>“Scent conditions change with the time of day and the temperature,” she adds. Rain is good; it holds the scents down. But heat is not because heat kills&nbsp;scent.”</p>
<p>Rescue dogs come in two types: area dogs like Kona, who work off-leash and are trained to locate any human scent in a large area, and trailing dogs, who work on-leash and are given a scent article to sniff to locate a specific&nbsp;person.</p>
<p>“It&#8217;s a game for him. They get a reward at the end, either a toy or food…We train on positive&nbsp;reinforcement.”</p>
<p>After two years of intensive training, featuring ever more difficult mock rescues, she and Kona had to pass a final exam: find up to three people (they weren&#8217;t told how many were out there) in 100 acres of unfamiliar&nbsp;wilderness.</p>
<p>“You have to be able to navigate a map and compass and know where they are anywhere in those 100 acres, so you just can&#8217;t wander around. You have to have a&nbsp;strategy.”</p>
<p class="pullquote right">“When you&#8217;re in urban situations you have intersections, with scents going all over the place, and you have to do turns with changes of direction. The scent will be blown onto bushes, so you get a false&nbsp;trail.”</p>
<p>And working in wilderness areas &nbsp;isn&#8217;t always comfortable. &nbsp;“I&#8217;ve had poison oak and ticks more times than I can remember.&nbsp;Literally.”</p>
<p>There are a few man-made hazards, too. “There are a lot of marijuana groves out there, and there are a lot of traps, so we have to watch out for&nbsp;those.”</p>
<p>But she still prefers it to working in urban&nbsp;settings</p>
<p>“When you&#8217;re in urban situations you have intersections, with scents going all over the place, and you have to do turns with changes of direction. The scent will be blown onto bushes, so you get a false trail. And there are a lot of hazards for dogs, like rat traps, poisons, and antifreeze. We&#8217;ve worked a lot of homeless encampments, and there are a lot of biohazards there. We also have to worry about homeless people with weapons. That&#8217;s why we always announce ourselves first, so they know we&#8217;re coming and are not a threat to&nbsp;them.”</p>
<p>After she and Kona have pared down the search area, then the ground pounders&nbsp;arrive.</p>
<p>“You have to be very methodical. It&#8217;s all about the probabilities of detection, says Young. “How can we arrange ourselves to maximize the probability of finding the person?&#8230;So the command post makes up a grid and assigns smaller, bite-sized chunks to each search team: ‘This is your map, this is your search area, you&#8217;re looking for this, and these are the things to be aware&nbsp;of.’”</p>
<p>Another important factor is the terrain. “If there&#8217;s really tall grass, we&#8217;ll need to be spaced closer together. If it&#8217;s a golf course, we&#8217;ll be further apart…If you throw all your resources into spot A, you can&#8217;t search spot B or C,” explains&nbsp;Young</p>
<p>And they have to make sure they don&#8217;t become victims themselves. “For example, we were in Niles Canyon a couple of weeks ago, and there was an unbelievable amount of water in the creek. A searcher could easily have fallen in and be swept away. And In this weather we also have to be careful about dehydration. And, of course, your compass and GPS skills have to be really good. You don&#8217;t want to get lost&nbsp;yourself.”</p>
<p><img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/YoungSearchandRescue.jpg" style="width: 350px; height: 233px; margin: 20px 10px; float: left;" title="Keith Young (left) with a fellow S &amp; R volunteer / courtesy of Randall Chinn" /></p>
<p>The initial search can take an hour to two, depending on all the variables. “We sweep through the area however many times it takes, then we go back to the command post and debrief. They need to get a written record of what we did and the things we observed. Maybe we found evidence like an article of clothing. Then we&#8217;ll have lunch, and then they send us back again to hit another spot. Meanwhile, the command team is putting together a picture so they can start narrowing things down: ‘OK, the dogs got more hits in this area; maybe we&#8217;ll go out again and concentrate there.’ It&#8217;s a process of&nbsp;elimination.”</p>
<p>One of their handiest tools is the smart phone. “We have an app that will trace our steps and overlay them on a map of the area. Back at the command post, they can watch me walking around in real time and tell me to go in this direction or that. When we find a piece of evidence, we can take a picture and text it back to them. I can call an investigator at the command post and he or she can say, ‘that&#8217;s not significant’ or ‘that&#8217;s what the victim was wearing last time he was&nbsp;seen.’”</p>
<p>Randall Chinn is a ground pounder, too; in fact, he often leads search teams because of his extensive experience. “The command post gives you a strategic position, but [I] have to make the tactical decisions about where to go. And we have limited time because this could be an emergency. You could have wasted a half hour, and people could have perished. There&#8217;s a lot of thinking in effective ground&nbsp;pounding.”</p>
<p>Chinn is also a rope rescue specialist. If somebody is trapped on a ledge of a sheer cliff, he&#8217;s the guy who is lowered down the side to reach the victim and bring him or her up to the top. But he feels safe because he knows the rope system has passed the whistle&nbsp;test.</p>
<p>“You could have four or more ropes in service,” he explains. “What if you were to let go one of them? Those systems should still be able to function. There are backups here. The whistle test tests those backups. When everyone&#8217;s ready we load the system, putting weight on it; and when I whistle everybody lifts their hands off the rope. Nothing should fall. I could be hanging a foot off the ground, but when they let go, I shouldn&#8217;t&nbsp;move.”</p>
<p>Chinn discovered search and rescue when he was camping with his daughter in the backcountry of Yosemite. Suddenly, an unexpected thunderstorm blew up, but that didn&#8217;t bother an experienced outdoorsman like&nbsp;him.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/ChinnRope.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 400px; float: right; margin: 20px 10px;" title="Randall Chinn in a training exercise / David Urrutia" /></p>
<p>“I know how to make a raging fire in the rain,” he says. “So we&#8217;ve got this beautiful fire going and we were happy again, and all of a sudden the Yosemite search and rescue guys come along and show me a picture and say, ‘Have you seen this guy?’ I thought, ‘If I were ever lost and didn&#8217;t know how to make a fire, I&#8217;d hope somebody with survival skills would come along and find me. Maybe I should go see if I could join some agency where I live.’ So I looked online and found the Alameda County Sheriff&#8217;s Department Search And Rescue Unit, and here I&nbsp;am.”</p>
<p>And he draws on his long outdoors experience on every mission. “It&#8217;s something about the way my brain works. I can visualize mountain draws and ravines, things like that, and I have really good spatial awareness. Combine the two, and it helps me to be comfortable in the forest in the dark. I can stop thinking about my own personal self and think about the person we&#8217;re looking for and my own team. The more skills you have in your toolkit, the more comfortable you are. So there&#8217;s always the desire to acquire new skills. You can&#8217;t say, ‘Oh yeah, I learned that.’ You need to be ready to go in the dark when it&#8217;s raining and people are waiting for you. You need to be part of a&nbsp;team.”</p>
<p>But the work isn&#8217;t over when the victim is located. “You find a person. Then what?” says Chinn. “They might need medical help. So we practice emergency first aid. We train for mass casualty incidents, fires, earthquakes, bus crashes, it could even be an active shooter. Lots of people bleed out after an active shooter, so we do a lot of training in how to stop mass hemorrhaging, either through stuffing the wounds or homeostatic agents or&nbsp;tourniquets.”</p>
<p>But what if the injuries are too severe for first aid to be of help? “I remember what one chief said when I was still a recruit. He said, ‘There are EMTs and paramedics who will almost kill themselves to get to you to help the victim.’ I thought, “This is the kind of organization I want to belong&nbsp;to.’”</p>
<p>The job gets even trickier when they rescue someone from a cliffside ledge. “Before we can bring them up, we have to package them so we can transport them back. Also, there&#8217;s often a trail of evidence that has to be retained. It could have been foul play. So we have to be very aware so we don&#8217;t contaminate the&nbsp;scene.”</p>
<p>And there isn&#8217;t always a happy ending. “I remember one Christmas a few years back when we found someone who had taken his own life. We also represent the coroner, so our guys helped remove the body. I don&#8217;t know why he took his own life, but when we went back to the roped-off public area there were dozens of cars and 60 or 70 of his friends hoping we would find him alive. That was very sad for us. You go through this whole range of emotions: We&#8217;re happy there&#8217;s closure, but you can really feel what this thing is about. There are cases when we never find them, and that&#8217;s even&nbsp;worse.”</p>
<p class="pullquote left">“If I were a relative or friend of the missing person, I&#8217;d want him or her found. That kind of closure would bring me a huge bit of peace of mind,” says&nbsp;Young.</p>
<p>So why do they do&nbsp;it?</p>
<p>“I am involved because I enjoy learning new skills from training, being able to enjoy nature in various wilderness locations, sharing experiences with teammates I respect, and strengthening the bond of love and trust I have with Kona, says Hale” Although not all searches end with live finds, we hope to bring closures to&nbsp;families.”</p>
<p>“If I were a relative or friend of the missing person, I&#8217;d want him or her found. That kind of closure would bring me a huge bit of peace of mind,” says&nbsp;Young.</p>
<p>Chinn remembers their success&nbsp;stories.</p>
<p>“A few weeks ago, we were in the middle of a forest looking for a lost person and her dog,” he says. “She had slept for two nights in that forest and was completely lost. She was located, and I set up a rope system to bring her up. In my small group I must have been working with rescuers from four different agencies. Although we did know each other or train with each other, we all knew what had to be done; and in a few minutes we worked together as a team to help this person and her dog. Both she and her dog turned out to be OK. A set of strangers with all the desire to learn and help others prevented what could have been the worst day of her family&#8217;s life. And we had made all the&nbsp;difference.”</p>
<p>In addition to rescuing people, these three members of the Alameda County Sheriff&#8217;s Department Search and Rescue Unit have made a sacrifice for&nbsp;journalism.</p>
<p>“One of our traditions is to avoid being in the press,” says Young. “If any of us are captured in a news segment, or a newspaper or magazine article, or even a picture, that person has to buy ice cream for the whole&nbsp;unit.”</p>
<p>Oh well. At least the expense will be split three&nbsp;ways.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Filed under: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/human-behavior">Human Behavior</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Related topics: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/university-california">University of California</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley">UC Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-alumni">Berkeley Alumni</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal">Cal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/california-magazine">California magazine</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/search-and-rescue">search and rescue</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/search-dogs">search dogs</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/search-and-rescue-training">search and rescue training</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/alameda">Alameda</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/angela-chew-hale">Angela Chew Hale</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/keith-young">Keith Young</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/randall-chin">Randall Chin</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/oracle-0">Oracle</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biotech">biotech</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/alameda-county-sheriff">Alameda County Sheriff</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/niles-canyon">Niles Canyon</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/rope-rescue">rope rescue</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/active-shooter">active shooter</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/earthquake">earthquake</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/mass-casualty-incidents">mass casualty incidents</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/yosemite">Yosemite</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/ground-pounder">ground pounder</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/gps">GPS</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/compass-skills">compass skills</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/marijuana-grove">marijuana grove</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/emt">EMT</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/alameda-county-police">Alameda County police</a></div></div></div>Tue, 23 May 2017 18:17:10 +0000Sara.Beladi7549 at https://alumni.berkeley.eduThe Current CRISPR Patent Dispute, Explainedhttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2017-04-27/current-crispr-patent-dispute-explained
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Glen Martin</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In 2012, Cal biochemistry and molecular biology professor <a href="http://rna.berkeley.edu" target="_blank">Jennifer </a><a href="https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/winter-2014-gender-assumptions/cracking-code-jennifer-doudna-and-her-amazing" target="_blank">Doudna</a><a href="https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/winter-2014-gender-assumptions/cracking-code-jennifer-doudna-and-her-amazing" target="_blank"> </a>and microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, now of the Max Planck Institute, changed the world. They invented CRISPR-Cas9, a gene editing tool that uses a protein found in Streptococcus bacteria to chop up and rearrange viral DNA with precision. The implications of the technology were immediately apparent, astonishing, and perhaps just a wee bit scary. Ultimately, CRISPR applications might be developed to wipe out genetic diseases, produce bespoke bacteria that could pump out everything from hormones to biofuels, and engineer exotic animal&nbsp;chimeras.</p>
<p>Then in 2013, MIT bioengineer Feng Zhang published a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3795411/" target="_blank">paper</a> in the journal <em>Science</em> that outlined a CRISPR process specifically for eukaryotic cells, i.e., those from higher plants and animals, including primates like Homo sapiens. At that point, the CRISPR saga bifurcated into two parts: the research narrative and the legal fight. The legal dispute pitted Cal against the Broad Institute (supported by both MIT and Harvard) over the patents to CRISPR. And since the patent battle could determine just who gets the gigabucks expected from CRISPR, that’s where most of the public attention has been&nbsp;focused.</p>
<p>Things seemed to move toward a resolution earlier this year when the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled that patents granted to Broad were significantly different from patents Doudna and her colleagues had applied for, and hence would stand. Berkeley’s position had been that the patents overlapped, and hence were the rightful property of the University of California. Berkeley has challenged the Patent Board’s ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal&nbsp;Circuit.</p>
<p>Broad representatives have<a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/crispr/journalists-statement-and-background-crispr-patent-process" target="_blank"> stated</a> they’re confident the institute will retain its patents, but the issue may not be as clear-cut as a CRISPR-edited gene; Cal’s researchers have been granted a patent for CRISPR applications to eukaryotic cells by the European Patent Office and the United Kingdom, and another may be&nbsp;pending.</p>
<p>Given that dueling patents can be as convoluted and confusing for the layperson as gene splicing, <em>CALIFORNIA</em> contacted Berkeley law professor and patent law authority Robert Merges for a gloss. Merges set it up this way: UC maintains that it has never been determined who first developed eukaryotic CRISPR applications, that CRISPR basically uses the same process for viruses and eukaryotic cells, and that the February decision should be reversed.<br />
“But the patent trial court found that there ‘is no interference in fact,’ which in this case basically means the inventions are not the same,” said Merges. “In other words, there is no contest—the two processes are different. So for the time being, at least, Broad has its patent. We’ll have to see what happens with the&nbsp;appeal.”</p>
<p class="pullquote left">“The good news is that Berkeley has pending CRISPR patents of its own, and these have been delayed due to the patent trial court&nbsp;case.”</p>
<p>That’s not to say it’s all sour grapes for Cal, adds&nbsp;Merges.</p>
<p>“The good news is that Berkeley has pending CRISPR patents of its own, and these have been delayed due to the patent trial court case,” Merges said. “With that resolved, it’s anticipated the patent office will move ahead with Cal’s patent&nbsp;approval.”</p>
<p>That’s not likely to be the end of the story, though, acknowledges Merges. Berkeley’s patent could very well be contested, just as Cal is challenging Broad’s patent. That’s pretty much standard operating procedure for any pioneering development like CRISPR, Merges&nbsp;says.</p>
<p>“Something like this has so much potential money at stake,” says Merges. “It usually takes quite a bit of time for patents [associated with groundbreaking technology] to settle out and determine who owns what. The [pending] Cal patent is very broad. If it’s issued and survives appeals, then the challenge will be in reconciling it with the Broad Institute&nbsp;patents.”</p>
<p>However, there is some risk to Broad if it contests Cal’s patent, Merges said. By arguing that other scientists were working on CRISPR techniques prior to Doudna’s work, “Broad could be hurt as much or more than Cal, because it could cast doubt on their own claims. They’re in a tricky situation. But MIT and Harvard play at a very high and sophisticated level, so I’m sure they’re considering that already. If they don’t challenge, it would tell me some interesting things about the relative strength of their own&nbsp;patent.”</p>
<p>Merges uses a baking metaphor to further explain the current patent&nbsp;brouhaha.</p>
<p>“It’s like Cal claims it invented cookies, and then Broad says it invented chocolate-chip cookies,” he says. “If Cal’s [pending] patent is verified and Broad’s also is upheld, you could end up with a situation where a biotech company would need licenses from both Cal and Broad for a CRISPR application. That kind of bundled license is very common in the world of&nbsp;patents.”</p>
<p>Another common scenario, says Merges, is shared entitlements, which means the profits are simply split between patent holders. That’s usually the case, he observes, for applications involving the Cohen-Boyer patents, which cover basic recombinant DNA&nbsp;technology.</p>
<p>“A tremendous number of biotech companies are using those patents, with the patent profits distributed through an entitlement agreement between the patent holders,” says Merges. “Once an entitlement structure is set up, the involved parties tend to agree on an equitable split. By the time it gets to that point, people are usually disinclined to spend more time and money in&nbsp;court.”</p>
<p class="pullquote right">“I do have my suspicions that, once again, people are trying to push a woman scientist&nbsp;aside.”</p>
<p>Still, patents aren’t all about money. They’re also about recognition. And in science, that’s at least as important as royalties.<br />
“All things being equal, I’d say we’re probably a couple of years away from a resolution,” said Merges, “but when egos are involved—and they always are in scientific research—you can never be sure. Business logic may dictate settling things as expeditiously as possible, but there are two systems of currency operating here: money on the finance side, and legacy on the science side. That can be a volatile&nbsp;mix.”</p>
<p>But Merges also believes the CRISPR case has some profound social justice implications. The hard sciences, he observes, remains a male province to a great degree. History is rife with examples of women scientists being ignored or big-footed. And as lead researcher for Cal’s CRISPR work, Merges says, Doudna could be suffering from such institutional&nbsp;bias.</p>
<p>“I do have my suspicions that, once again, people are trying to push a woman scientist aside,” Merges says. “You can’t help draw parallels with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin" target="_blank">Rosalind Franklin</a>, who should’ve gotten shared credit for discovering the double helix configuration of DNA. I have a strong sense of something similar happening here, of an all-male, East Coast team at Broad trying to shoulder aside a pioneering female researcher at Cal. It’s an aspect you can’t&nbsp;ignore.”</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Filed under: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/innovation">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/law-policy">Law + Policy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/science-health">Science + Health</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Related topics: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/university-california">University of California</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/california-magazine">California magazine</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal">Cal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley">UC Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-alumni">Berkeley Alumni</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal-alumni-association">Cal Alumni Association</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/crispr">CRISPR</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/crispr-cas9">CRISPR-Cas9</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/patent-law">patent law</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/robert-merges">robert merges</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/patent-dispute">patent dispute</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/european-patent-office">European Patent Office</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/gene-editing-technology">gene editing technology</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/science-and-technology">science and technology</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/research">research</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/women-stem">women in STEM</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/jennifer-doudna">Jennifer Doudna</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/feng-zhang">Feng Zhang</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/mit">MIT</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/dna-emmanuelle-charpentier">DNA Emmanuelle Charpentier</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/max-planck-institute">Max Planck Institute</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biofuel">biofuel</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/eukaryotic-cell">eukaryotic cell</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/homos-apien">homos apien</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/plants">plants</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/animals">animals</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/us-patent-trial-and-appeal-board">US Patent Trial and Appeal Board</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/us-court-appeals">US Court of Appeals</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/recombinant-dna">recombinant DNA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cohen-boyer-patent">Cohen-Boyer patent</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biotech">biotech</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/broad-institute">Broad Institute</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/streptococcus-bacteria">Streptococcus bacteria</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/rosalind-franklin">Rosalind Franklin</a></div></div></div>Fri, 28 Apr 2017 00:37:56 +0000Sara.Beladi7493 at https://alumni.berkeley.eduHow Bears Breed Unicorns: Inside Cal's Vast Startup Ecosystemhttps://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2017-02-16/when-bears-breed-unicorns-inside-cals-vast-startup-ecosystem
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Bill Snyder</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>How’s this for a modern take on the venerable office vending machine? You swipe your credit or debit card, open a fridge-like glass door, and choose from an array of fresh entrees and snacks. If you want a receipt, the machine will email it to you, and it keeps track of your preferences: next time there’s a sale on your favorite yogurt, <a href="http://www.bytefoods.co/#about" target="_blank">Byte Food’s </a>cloud-based servers will give you a heads up.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Or maybe you’d like a glass of the freshest possible beer without going to the brewery or the pub. <a href="http://sf.hopsy.beer/" target="_blank">Hopsy</a> will deliver the suds to your door in a container that will keep them brewery fresh and&nbsp;cold.</p>
<p>At the more serious end of the entrepreneurial spectrum, <a href="http://www.dosteducation.com/" target="_blank">Dost</a>, a startup led by a team of three women, is using mobile technology to bring better parenting information to families in India. And <a href="http://www.sanivation.com/" target="_blank">Sanivation</a> is helping to solve the problem of human waste disposal in the underdeveloped world by converting feces to a cleaner burning version of&nbsp;charcoal.</p>
<p>These four companies are just a sample of the hundreds of startups spawned on UC Berkeley’s campus since 1968. None more than a few years old, they exemplify the entrepreneurial energy that has made Berkeley a leading center of&nbsp;innovation.</p>
<p>The campus’s proximity to Silicon Valley and its entrepreneurial culture would likely have made Berkeley a fertile ground for startups without institutional support. Although there’s always been a heavy emphasis on faculty research at Berkeley, putting serious muscle behind student- and alumni-based startups is a post-Dot com&nbsp;phenomenon.</p>
<p>“Ten years ago<ins cite="denied:mailto:Microsoft%20Office%20User" datetime="12">,</ins> entrepreneurship was not a big deal,” says Ikhlaq Sidhu, the founding director of the <a href="http://scet.berkeley.edu" target="_blank">Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology</a>. “When I first got here I had a little office in the Engineering School,” and the center offered only one course.<img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/dbeeac88-eac5-4ad2-a5cf-a674b73c5bae.jpg" style="float: right; height: 267px; width: 400px; margin: 15px 5px;" title="In 2015, Sanivation opened one of the world’s first human waste processing and charcoal production sites in Kenya / Sanivation" /></p>
<p>Now the center teaches hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, has helped create the foundation of the<a href="http://skydeck.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank"> SkyDeck</a> accelerator, holds intensive boot camps and team-building workshops, and has gained wide recognition for developing the Berkeley method of entrepreneurial&nbsp;education.</p>
<p>Important as it is, the center is only one part of the “startup ecosystem,” a sprawling web of resources that includes an array of graduate and undergraduate classes, startup accelerators, incubators, competitions, mentoring, and funding mechanisms. Berkley has so many resources for startups that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of&nbsp;them.</p>
<p>To some extent, that’s an embarrassment of riches. A good problem to have. However, there’s a danger that even creative chaos can lead to waste. “Two years ago I was horrified at the duplication of resources,” says Rhonda Shrader, executive director of the<a href="http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu" target="_blank"> Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program</a>.</p>
<p>She wasn’t&nbsp;alone.&nbsp;</p>
<p>When marketing consultant and freelance journalist Tamra Teig was commissioned to write a series of blog posts about Berkeley startups in 2015, she was surprised that there weren’t even listings of their events on the campus Web site, let alone an easily accessible database or directory of resources. “It was really chaotic, really unorganized,” she&nbsp;says.</p>
<p>Teig argued that the vacuum needed filling. With help from SkyDeck Executive Director Caroline Winnett, Teig convinced then Assistant Vice Chancellor Robert Price to award a $150,000 grant to build a searchable online platform containing links, news and information about campus startup resources. The platform, now called <a href="http://startupnetwork.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank">The Berkeley Startup Network</a>, debuted in October of 2016, and with the benefit of another grant is on track to expand later this&nbsp;year.</p>
<p>The platform is just one piece of a broader, campus-wide strategy. With the help of a $2.2 million state grant, Cal is working to streamline and improve the startup ecosystem. “We want to create more transparency and make the pipeline more robust and more helpful to help student entrepreneurs,” says Assistant Vice Chancellor Carol&nbsp;Mimura.</p>
<p class="pullquote left">&#8230;there is no reliable estimate of how many startups have been launched from Cal, although they clearly number in the&nbsp;hundreds.</p>
<p>It appears that no one person in the administration has a handle on how all of those programs are paid for. Mimura’s office prepared a chart showing about 50 disparate programs that make up the ecosystem, but when asked how much all that costs the university, she said, “I have no idea.” And there is no reliable estimate of how many startups have been launched from Cal, although they clearly number in the&nbsp;hundreds.</p>
<p>In general, funding is split between contributions from the university, alumni, and corporations, many based in Silicon Valley. SkyDeck, a well-known startup accelerator, spends about $1.5 million a year helping new companies get off the ground, says Winnett. “For now, somewhat more than half of the funding is from the university, but we’re working to become self-funded,” she&nbsp;adds.</p>
<p><a href="http://citris-uc.org" target="_blank">CITRIS</a>, one of four UC Institutes for Science and Innovation (CITRIS, QB3, CNSI, and Calit2) that&nbsp;provide seed money and a variety of programs to support startups nurtured on four University of California campuses, receives annual funding of around $4 million from the office of University President Janet Napolitano, according&nbsp;to Camille&nbsp;Crittenden, deputy director of&nbsp;CITRIS.&nbsp;Some of that funding, she says, supports the CITRIS&nbsp;Foundry and operations as well as other programs and research.&nbsp;&nbsp;In addition, over the last years, $700,000 per year has been provided by UC Berkeley.&nbsp;But future funding from Berkeley is not guaranteed, particularly in light of the campus’ present budget constraints. “For that reason,” she says, “We are developing corporate partnerships and seeking other sources of extramural funding through grants from public and private&nbsp;sources.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Research that flows from faculty and graduate student research generates a significant amount of revenue from the licensing of intellectual property: more than $253 million since 2004. But startups rarely need to license intellectual property and with the exception of the <a href="http://citrisfoundry.org/" target="_blank">CITRIS</a><a href="http://citrisfoundry.org" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://citrisfoundry.org/" target="_blank">Foundry</a>, which takes an equity stake of 2 percent in its companies, startups keep whatever profits they earn (the equity stake taken by CITRIS is owned by the&nbsp;university).</p>
<h4>An Economic&nbsp;Multiplier</h4>
<p>On a Wednesday evening in mid-November, more than 100 people filled Sutardja Dai Hall on the north edge of the campus. The crowd of students, faculty members, and potential investors &nbsp;were there &nbsp;to honor and learn about that semester’s crop of startups launched by the CITRIS Foundry, one of the campus’s seven startup accelerators and&nbsp;incubators.</p>
<p>Entry is competitive. Potential portfolio companies are generally in an early stage, but their product or service has to be more than a gleam in a founder’s eye to gain admittance. “A&nbsp;short written description isn’t nearly enough to capture the impact of your idea. Show us a concept prototype instead,” the application&nbsp;enjoins.</p>
<p class="pullquote right">For every dollar given to a startup by the Foundry, a typical company raises nearly 200 times that amount from outside sources, says Peter Minor, a co-founder of the&nbsp;accelerator.</p>
<p>Each startup selected to join the CITRIS Foundry receives $5,000 in cash, plus more than $30,000 worth of in-kind infrastructure and services, including office and studio space on the campus. Not all Foundry startups thrive, of course, but many do. Since its debut in 2013, the Foundry has helped launch 31 companies, which have collectively raised more than $30 million in venture capital to fund themselves. For every dollar given to a startup by the Foundry, a typical company raises nearly 200 times that amount from outside sources, says Peter Minor, a co-founder of the&nbsp;accelerator.</p>
<p>Like its parent, the Foundry encompasses four campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz. To qualify, at least one member of the team must be a student, faculty, staff, or alumnus who graduated no more than five years&nbsp;previously.</p>
<p>Companies that have gone through the Foundry represent a diverse mix of people and technologies. A representative sample of the companies that gave presentations at the November “Demo Day” graduation ceremony,&nbsp;include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ayarlabs.com/" target="_blank">Ayar Labs</a>, a San Francisco-based hardware startup with a new twist on semiconductor technology. Ayar’s technology is designed to help companies keep up with ever increasing volumes of data by using fiber optics to speed the transmission of data within computer&nbsp;systems.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf2ha76oN-0" target="_blank">Frootbot</a>, may sound like a game, but is dedicated to the serious business of developing software and hardware that will automate data collection in a farmer’s field. Data collected by Frootbot devices is then used to suggest things a farmer needs to do, such as fertilize or water a specific part of a&nbsp;field.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nosocomsolutions.com/#story" target="_blank">Nosocom Solutions</a> is developing technology to help reduce the spread of diseases within hospitals and other medical settings. Its first product is a tool that uses ultraviolet light to disinfect the lead aprons and white coats often seen in doctors’ and dentists’&nbsp;offices.</li>
</ul>
<h4>The Lean&nbsp;Launchpad</h4>
<p>When traffic is blessedly normal, it’s a 20-minute drive from Solano Avenue in Albany, where Hopsy caters to the beer cognoscenti of the East Bay, to Sproul Hall. But the psychic distance is quite a bit shorter. Hopsy, a startup betting that consumers will pay to have fresh beer delivered to their homes, was born on the Berkeley campus and its connections to the startup ecosystem are “almost too numerous to mention,” says co-founder Sebastien Tron. “Everything at Hopsy originated at&nbsp;Cal.”</p>
<p>At 33, Tron already has two startups, a bevy of consulting gigs, and a Haas MBA (&#8217;15) under his belt. Food and beverages are his passions; he’s worked with Munchery, SpoonRocket, and NakedWines.com. The French-born entrepreneur says he’s always been intrigued by the beer industry, and while interning at a wine delivery company he met two other young men who shared his love of the suds&nbsp;business.</p>
<p>As serious beer drinkers, the team realized that the very best tasting beer is found at breweries, not in cans or even on tap. They hit upon the notion of delivering beer from local breweries to customers in growlers, beer talk for an air-tight jug, typically made out of glass, ceramic or stainless steel. The growlers are filled at the breweries using a method that limits the amount of oxygen in the jug, a trick that improves quality. Unlike canned or bottled beer that gets warm, Hopsy keeps the growlers chilled, another advantage over mass-market&nbsp;delivery.</p>
<p>Would anybody pay for that service?<img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/5EEAEE79-56DB-404F-98DE-CD23BED44160-1024x768.jpg" style="height: 300px; width: 400px; margin: 15px 5px; float: left;" title="Hopsy's Sebastien Tron on Demo Day / UC Berkeley Sutardja Center" /></p>
<p>Students at Haas are drilled on the “Lean Launchpad” method. It focuses on a seemingly obvious question that many at failed companies neglect to ask: “Is there actually demand for a potential product or&nbsp;service?”</p>
<p>Tron, who was exposed to the method at Haas, conducted more than 100 interviews with potential customers, and completed Mark Coopersmith’s “Workshop for Startups,” where he got help refining his business plan. “It was tremendously helpful,” Tron&nbsp;says.</p>
<p>The Hopsy team competed for the Sutardja Center’s <a href="http://scet.berkeley.edu/ventures/delta-prize/" target="_blank">Delta Prize</a>, and as &nbsp;finalists then completed a three-month mentorship at the center. Tron and his colleagues won the competition, split the $15,000 prize with another team, and then entered the SkyDeck&nbsp;program.</p>
<p>SkyDeck, an accelerator that grew out of the Sutardja Center, was formed in 2012 as a joint venture between the College of Engineering, Haas School of Business and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. It’s already had a good deal of success—10 members of teams that came out of SkyDeck have been named to Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” lists—and is yet another example of the evolving Berkeley mindset about&nbsp;startups.</p>
<p>“Working at a start-up, being an entrepreneur, was stigmatized,” when she was a student, Caroline Winnett, SkyDeck’s executive director, told <em>CALIFORNIA Magazine</em> last year. “Things are much different these days,” says Winnett, who received her MBA from Haas in&nbsp;1990.</p>
<p>It wasn’t only startups that were stigmatized in the 1990s: corporate funding of research was anathema to some on the campus. A $25 million research grant from Novartis, a biotech company, in 1998 <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/07/30_novartis.shtml" target="_blank">sparked intense debate</a> over the influence of corporate funding on&nbsp;research.</p>
<p>That debate appears to be over. In nearly two dozen recent conversations about entrepreneurship on the campus, those concerns did not arise even once. “We’re now three generations past (the Novartis controversy),” says Mimura. “People see that we don’t take money and say ‘tell us what to do.’ Maybe there had to be a critical mass of people doing industry-funded research to understand this,” Mimura&nbsp;says.</p>
<h4>How to&nbsp;Succeed</h4>
<p>If location, location, and location is the key to success in real estate, networking, networking, and more networking is the key to success in the startup world. ­And that was the case for Tron and his colleagues when they connected with the <ins cite="denied:mailto:Microsoft%20Office%20User" datetime="54"><a href="http://berkeleyangelnetwork.com/" target="_blank">Berkeley Angel Network</a></ins> while at&nbsp;SkyDeck.</p>
<p>Angels are early stage investors, and the Angel Network has been helping to fund Cal-related startups since 2012. “Early investors bring capital and risk appetite, but they also bring mentoring and advice,” says Catherine Chiu, a co-founder of the Berkeley Angel Network, and a partner at <a href="http://www.operopartners.com">Opero Partners</a>, a Silicon Valley&nbsp;consultancy.</p>
<p>The network is focused on UC Berkeley, but considers investing in companies nurtured on other campuses as&nbsp;well.</p>
<p>Whether a prospective investment is from Cal or not, Chiu and her colleagues are quite selective. “We want (funded companies) to have the strength to withstand outside competition,” says Chiu, a Haas graduate. Time spent mentoring and steering young entrepreneurs to funding sources is done on a volunteer basis by the Angel Network, but their companies may profit if they agree to fund a&nbsp;startup.</p>
<p class="pullquote right">“We used to see a dozen or so companies each cycle that weren’t even close [to meeting standards]. That number is a lot smaller&nbsp;now,”</p>
<p>The network gets some 60 applications each cycle, but only a fraction are funded—and the choice gets tougher every year. “We used to see a dozen or so companies each cycle that weren’t even close [to meeting standards]. That number is a lot smaller now,” Chiu says.&nbsp;&nbsp; One reason: “Vastly improved support for entrepreneurs on campus,” she says, referring to a sharper focus on entrepreneurship at Haas and increased opportunities to meet with mentors and Silicon Valley&nbsp;veterans.</p>
<p>What makes for a successful funding pitch? “Companies that do best have already received some form of mentoring, have some sophistication in how they approach investors, and have a reasonable approach to their business,” Chiu&nbsp;says.</p>
<p>Hopsy met that standard and won a significant investment; it now has approximately 8,000 customers and expects to open a distribution center in San Diego this year, Tron says.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<h4>The Art of the&nbsp;Pivot</h4>
<p>When a football player makes a sharp turn, it’s called a pivot. Startups make sharp turns as well, and those pivots generally occur when a business is in trouble, or at least heading in the wrong&nbsp;direction.</p>
<p>That’s what happened to a Haas-spawned startup called 180 Eats, a prepared food delivery service based in Marin. Although the company’s service had gotten great reviews on Yelp, it’s business model was problematic—there was too much overhead required to bring fresh cooked entrees to consumers.<img alt="" class="caption" src="/sites/default/files/Byte%20Foods_Day2_Final-5.jpg" style="float: left; height: 267px; width: 400px; margin: 20px 5px;" title="A Byte Foods vending machine / Byte Foods" /></p>
<p>Now the company has morphed into Byte Foods, and it delivers meals to workplaces with smart fridges that bill and track consumer preferences via cloud-based servers and data analytics&nbsp;software.</p>
<p>“It just made a lot more sense to deliver a lot of meals at once to one place, versus a lot of individual meals to different doors.” Byte VP of sales and marketing, Lee Mokri <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/28/byte-foods-raises-5-5-million-for-smart-vending-machines-that-serve-local-fare/" target="_blank">told</a> TechCrunch last&nbsp;year.</p>
<p>Unlike a typical coin-operated vending machine, Byte’s devices allow the use of credit cards to bill consumers and track their purchases. Since Byte knows what customers have purchased in the past, it can alert then when a favorite item is on sale.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The pivot seems to have worked. After bootstrapping—relying on friends and family for funding—for about 18 months, Byte landed $5.5 million in funding and now has more than 125 clients, co-founder Megan Mokri told <em>CALIFORNIA Magazine</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://playerslounge.co/" target="_blank">Players’ lounge</a>, a very different sort of company that also got its start at Haas, pivoted from hosting live, video game-oriented events to becoming an online platform hosting video game&nbsp;tournaments.</p>
<p>The two startups have something else in common: They went through <a href="http://launch.berkeley.edu/about/" target="_blank">Launch</a>, the Haas startup accelerator and competition. “It was Launch that pushed us to become an online platform,” says Players’ Lounge co-founder Mark Murphy, a second-year Haas MBA student. “The feedback and the tough questioning were&nbsp;critical.”</p>
<p>Launch’s accelerator phase lasts three months, and is designed to get early start-ups off the ground and growing in a hurry. &nbsp;Teams are paired with mentors who are themselves startup veterans and they, along with the faculty, help the fledgling entrepreneurs master the basics of running a new&nbsp;company.</p>
<p>Launch is under the umbrella of the <a href="http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank">Berkeley-Hass Entrepreneurship Program</a>, which itself has made something of a pivot&nbsp;recently.</p>
<p>Until 2016, the entrepreneurship program was the Lester Center. But a lot more than the name changed, says Executive Director: Rhonda Shrader. “My mission was to bring us into the 2.0 version.” As the Lester Center, it offered classes, said Shrader. We stopped doing one-off lectures. But “students want more hands on and less just sitting in a&nbsp;classroom.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Dean’s Startup Seed Fund, launched in late 2015, provides $5,000 grants to early-stage startups that include Haas students. The grant money is used for prototype development and for market research to identify potential customers.&nbsp;So far, approximately half of the funds have come from alumni gifts specifically designated for the Dean&#8217;s Seed Fund. The remainder has come from private donations to the Haas Annual Fund, according to a spokeswoman at&nbsp;Haas.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the university continues to look for ways to boost and rationalize the startup ecosystem. The Berkeley Startup Network is headed for expansion, but it’s not at all clear what Vice Chancellor Paul Alivisatos will conclude in his evaluation of the ecosystem this&nbsp;year.</p>
<p>Alvisatos, himself a veteran of three startups, says the link between research and entrepreneurship benefits both the university and Silicon Valley. “Each time I worked in a startup it had a very positive impact on my scholarship. And each time the company was able to do things that the university couldn’t,” he said in an&nbsp;interview.</p>
<p>Although university funding for startup-related programs doesn’t appear threatened at the moment, administrators worry that an unexpected change in California’s budget could leave them scrambling. Like SkyDeck’s Winnett, there’s a general sense that looking for outside funding, particularly from Silicon Valley, which looks upon the university as a key source of talent and ideas, is a smart&nbsp;strategy.</p>
<p>And what about that other school down Highway 101; Is Cal attempting to overtake it? In a word, no. “We’re not in competition. The Bay Area is blessed with having two great universities,” says Alivisatos. “We have our own style and we have to be true to our Berkeley&nbsp;way.”</p>
<p><em>*Editor&#8217;s note: Edits were made on February 18, 2017 to clarify CITRIS funding&nbsp;streams.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><em>San Francisco journalist <a href="http://www.billsnyder.biz" target="_blank">Bill Snyder </a>has followed business, technology, and the business of technology for nearly 25 years at newspapers, national magazines and Web&nbsp;sites.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Filed under: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal-culture">Cal Culture</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/innovation">Innovation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-5 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Related topics: <a href="/california-magazine/topic/university-california">University of California</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/uc-berkeley">UC Berkeley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-alumni">Berkeley Alumni</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/cal">Cal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/california-magazine">California magazine</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/bill-snyder">Bill Snyder</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/startups">startups</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/hopsy">Hopsy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/byte-foods">Byte Foods</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/dost">Dost</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/sanivation">Sanivation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/rhonda-shrader">Rhonda Shrader</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/haas-entrepreneuership-program">Haas Entrepreneuership Program</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-startup-network">Berkeley Startup Network</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/carol-mimura">Carol Mimura</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/citris-foundry">CITRIS Foundry</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/ayar-labs">Ayar Labs</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/frootbot">Frootbot</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/nosocom-solutions">Nosocom Solutions</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/sebastien-tron">Sebastien Tron</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/munchery">Munchery</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/spoonrocket">SpoonRocket</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/nakedwinescom">NakedWines.com</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/delta-prize">Delta Prize</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/novartis">Novartis</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/biotech">biotech</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/berkeley-angel-network">Berkeley Angel Network</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/launch-startup">Launch startup</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/players-lounge">Players&#039; Lounge</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/mark-murphy">Mark Murphy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/deans-startup-seed-fund">dean&#039;s startup seed fund</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/haas-annual-fund">Haas Annual Fund</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/bootstraping">bootstraping</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/paul-alivisatos">Paul Alivisatos</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/tamra-teig">Tamra Teig</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/caroline-winnett">Caroline Winnett</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/ikhlaq-sidhu">Ikhlaq Sidhu</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/sutardja-center-entrepreneurship-and-technology">Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/innovation-0">innovation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/disruption">disruption</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/california-magazine/topic/skydeck">SkyDeck</a></div></div></div>Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:44:59 +0000Sara.Beladi7411 at https://alumni.berkeley.edu